Why are our children getting fatter?

[Mo 10]

With todays news that this could be the first generation where our children may be outlived by their parents, what can we do?

 

I think that it is totally wrong to blame the likes of Mc Donalds for the situation. FGS haven't parents heard of the word 'NO'?

 

Childrens eating habits are formed in the first fews years of life. Feed your kids crap and the chances are that it what they will eat forever. Times many I see children on their way to school eating crisps and a can of pop for breakfast, what is all that about?

 

Of course you can't control what your children eat as they grow older but the chances are that they will reject trash food if they haven't been weaned on it.

 

The government ought to look at the other side of the equation ie ask themselves why children don't play out as much as they used to. This is where they could do something positive like more police on the streets, patrolled playgrounds and ridding the streets of criminal scum.

 

No surprise that they take the easy option is it?

[Agent Orange 11]

I heard about this on the news this morning, in particular, a story about a 3 year old dying of heart failure due to obesity. Why is the government the only scapegoat with regards to the state of our childrens health? What about the parents? After all, they are the people that shape and model the lives of their children. I believe that more could be done by the government to tackle this growing problem, but at the end of the day the only people that have a big impact on a child's life are the parents.

[Ned Ludd 10]

These are complex issues little understood by the people on this Forum who were having ago at "Fatties" not so long ago.

Today's Guardian makes interesting reading for those that think that the advertising of junk food isn't a major factor. http://society.guardian.co.uk/publichealth/story/0,11098,1225581,00.html

[jackthedog 10]

Kids are too busy playing PS2 to do anything physically active.

 

On a more positive note, we are raising a generation of people with fantastically dextrous thumbs.

[Andy78 10]

i think activity levels do have a lot to do with it. I ate loads of crap when i was little, but also did a lot of active things, even if it was just playing outside with my friends and going for bike rides all the time. I was also walked to school and back everyday, unlike todays kids who get a lift, even if they live next door to the school. Then when i was a teenager, we were always playing football and other sports. i know kids still do that, but it seems far less common than it used to be. In summer, we wouldn't have dreamed of staying indoors to play video games.

[Tony Ruscoe 10]

Originally posted by Dick Dastardly

I heard about this on the news this morning, in particular, a story about a 3 year old dying of heart failure due to obesity. Why is the government the only scapegoat with regards to the state of our childrens health? What about the parents? After all, they are the people that shape and model the lives of their children. I believe that more could be done by the government to tackle this growing problem, but at the end of the day the only people that have a big impact on a child's life are the parents.

Absolutely! On the BBC this morning, they were trying to blame it on advertising aimed at kids. Well, I don't know many 3 year olds that go out and do the food shopping! I blame the parents too.

 

I think that young kids in genereal are getting fatter because adults are getting lazier and - trying not to sound too sexist here - women (and men) have better things to do than stay at home making wholesome meals!

 

People in general are working longer hours than ever before, which gives them less time to cook. This means kids get frozen meals, chicken nuggets, burgers, pizzas, etc... rather than some meat and 5 portions of fruit and veg a day.

 

The older kids are staying in playing computer games, going on the Internet, drinking more booze and doing much less exercise than previous generations too.

 

That's what I think.

 

[oxbeast 10]

When I would go to America as a kid, I would always see fatter people every day there than in a year in the UK. Now, there are plenty of obese people.

 

My personal theory is that so few people know how to cook, espcially of the younger generation. If you don't know how to make healthy meals, you'll just get fast food, processed stuff and ready meals. Even the ones that are supposedly healthy, or nearly fat free are not if you look closely. And they taste rubbish.

 

And kids learn this attitude from parents. Maybe its because people are more busy now.. or something.....

[sarah_d 10]

You can't blame childrens' obesity on women having careers!!There's always time to cook a healthy meal,it doesn't take that long.Personally i think parents just don't seem to care any more and kids don't do any exercise either.

[oxbeast 10]

I don't think I was blaming it on women having careers. Everyone works longer hours now. And blokes can cook too.

[garrence 10]

Originally posted by Mo

I think that it is totally wrong to blame the likes of Mc Donalds for the situation. FGS haven't parents heard of the word 'NO'?

I disagree there - the food industry is a big part (but nowhere near all) of the problem. They spend a huge amount of money on advertising junk food at children. It's been proven in court that McDonalds deliberately aimed their advertising at children - their management manuals extolled the benefits of using "pester power" to get children to nag their parents to take them there.

 

if you look at the ingredients on breakfast cereals marketed at children you'll see they're 30%, 40% plus pure sugar. "Eat this! It's good! It's FUN!"

 

Sunny Delight, was launched with a massive ad campaign to persuade children and dim-witted mothers that it's the Orange juice "kids love" and far better than fizzy drinks. Yet it's only a few percent juice and the rest is water, chemicals and lots of sugar/sweetner. Sunny D shouldn't even exist IMHO.

 

Convenience and junk food also contains lots of hydrogenated vegetable oil, which the human body cannot process so it just stores it.

 

Then there's busy parents who can't/won't cook decent food and just feed em crap.

 

They're talking about the government having a healthy eating campaig but that'll make zero difference. The healthy eating ad budget will be a tiny fraction of the junk food advertising budget.

 

Being driven everywhere and not being allowed out of sight are the other half of the problem...

[Cyclone 10]

I don't really see that much of the blame can be placed on the government.

Parents are mainly to blame here, aided and abetted by the food industry.

[Mo 10]

Originally posted by Cyclone

I don't really see that much of the blame can be placed on the government.

Parents are mainly to blame here, aided and abetted by the food industry.

 

I agree parents are to blame about what their children eat but they have little control over whether the streets are safe to play in or whether there are municiple playgrounds for children to run around and burn off calories in.